Glee: A New Beginning (AU)
by WildeAbrams
Summary: This is a virtual season 5B & 6 of Glee set primarily at McKinley High and featuring Kitty & the newbies (and Artie in New York). With Glee Club gone our heroes are forced to find their bearings again so they can navigate the complicated waters of high school. Watch for the introduction of some of the season 6 newbies in future chapters. Discontinued - See Endnote
1. Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Glee: A New Beginning

By Wilde Abrams

Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the feedback on my previous story In My Arms Again! Sorry for the wait on my next story, but I wanted to wait until the last episode of the season to see if there were any more hints about what's in store for Artie. I have been working on this story along with some other stuff since before that story was posted.

When I first posted this, We knew as much as we thought we were going to about his immediate future of Kitty, Artie, and the others. Season 6 will be the last and that it will be about the original glee club members (those that can be talked into returning ). It will include a time jump, and they will only "catch up with " the newbies to see how being in glee club effected them, so we will have a pretty blank slate for fanfic storytelling. The latter half of season 5 is Kitty's junior year, and the show skips another 6 months or so to latter in her senior year.

Most of this series was planned when almost nothing was known about about season 6 of Glee so everything at McKinley was AU but the New York stuff still followed cannon for the most part. The episode Tested is the first major divergence. In it Artie behaved in a very uncharacteristic way by hooking up with two different girls and perusing a third (apparently completely forgetting about Kitty) and contracting the clap. In this story, he did date several girls while in New York, and expected Kitty was doing that same, but did not hook up with them. The rest of the story should be more or less compatible with the remainder of season 5 and is therefore only slightly AU.

Update: More information has leaked about season 6. I won't go into details for those of you who don't want to be spoiled. But suffice it to say it's going to be completely incompatible with what I have in mind with for how this story is going to go. So as of this writing, here is how I see this story developing.

When I get to that point, the story of what happens next is expected to be completely AU unless I can figure out a way to converge them but it doesn't seem likely.

The story has been significantly revised since I originally posted it. I haven't really changed much, but I added more things because I have a better grasp on the Kitty/Artie situation, and where I am taking the story. I highly recommend you read it from the beginning.

#$#$#

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Artie was really relishing his life in New York. As it turned out, all of the anxiety he put himself through was for not. After a short period of adjustment, Artie really embraced his new life. A lot of that had to do with his close proximity to so many of his friends. Rachel, Kurt, Blaine, and Sam around all the time and Mercedes, Santana, and Brittany were around a lot too.

The only thing he was really missing was Kitty, and the two of them had agreed that because they were so far away from each other, that it was not fair to restrict their social lives, so they were free to date others if they wished, and they would avoid the problems that their friends had fallen into trying to maintain similar long distance relationships.

The only major setback he encountered was when he was robbed on the subway and someone stole his laptop. The laptop contained the only copy of his script so at the time it seemed catastrophic. Police were virtually no help, and for a few days he was reluctant to ride the subway.

But his friends supported and encouraged him, and Rachel even gave up her give up the town car her producer had given her so that she could ride the subway with him every day to give him the courage he needed. He didn't need her help for very long, a few days later he and Rachel were on the subway and they saw the robber. After pepper spraying him and calling the police, they were able to recover not only his laptop, but possessions belonging to a lot of other people. It turned out the guy was a serial hoarder.

Since moving to New York, Artie had really flourished both academically and socially. His projects became very popular both with his teachers and with his fellow students particularly his female classmates. One of his professors had submitted his first full length film to three film festivals for consideration.

Life was good.

He also found that there were lots of women who wanted to date him. This was a sharp contrast to what he was used to. In high school he had only dated 5 women in his last 3 years of high school. Tina, Brittany, Sugar, Betty, and Kitty. In college he dated 3 women in 2 months Vanessa, Jessica, and Julie. For once in his life, he had not neede to be the pursuer.

He remembered his arrangement with Kitty, that they were free to date since maintaining long distanced relationships was next to impossible at the 589 mile distanced, but would be honest with each other about any significant developments. They would resume their current relationship when she graduated unless one or both of them had committed to a long term relationship with someone else by then. This had been more her idea than his. He assumed that it was because she did not want to be alone in high school, not that he could blame her, but could not bare the pain of a breakup, because while the circumstances sucked, they really did love each other.

After settling in to his new environment, Girls began to throw themselves at him because they thought he was cute and they liked his film. Initially he hadn't planned to date much, but after a few weeks he figured that if she was going to date around, he may as well too. At first they had a Google Hangouts chat every day, or nearly so. But once school started, one or the other was busy a lot so their chats grew shorter and less and less often. After another month or so they were lucky if they talked once a week or so. The perils of leading different lives. He slowly accepted that this was how it was going to be, at least for now...

Out of the girls he saw, there was only one girl that he had to ask out himself. That was Julie, and the only one of the group that was prospective relationship material. They spent a lot of time together because she was a voice over artist on his film Bags In The Wind. Initially she stated that she would not date someone who she worked with, however she did change your mind and they went out on one date. But after she found out that he had dated the other two girls who she did not respect, she decided that she was no longer interested in him. He took this as a sign to slow down and focus on his projects.

He missed Kitty, but kept himself busy in an attempt to distract himself from just how much.

*#*#*

Kitty, on the other hand, had the opposite experience. Glee club was gone and with it most of her friends. She no longer had that daily excuse to spend time with her only real friends at McKinley: Marley, Unique Jake, and Ryder; The others having graduated or move on to other things.

Kitty felt lost. She was still a member of the Cheerios, but no longer high in the hierarchy with the senior members. He had given that up the previous year by choosing to date Artie and be friends with glee club members.

Since glee club had been canceled in defeat for their loss at nationals, they were now considered failures by most other students. This was something that had been encouraged by Principal Sylvester. She only wanted winners at her school, and second place (even if it was in the whole nation) was just that first loser, was her motto. The sad part was, kitty had once agreed with it.

Kitty no longer enjoyed Cheerios as much as she had, and briefly considered quitting, but she knew that she needed the status that it afforded her to survive in high school even if she was no longer on top. She knew that Bree would like nothing better than to force her off the squad, but she was one of the best members, and even Bree and Coach Roz knew that they needed her if they were going to retain their title as National Champions.

She was forced to see her friends in private and act as if they weren't friends in public to avoid being hazed by the other Cheerio members. Coach Roz was a bitch and refused to do much of anything about it, choosing not to see what was happening.

She had intended to keep the promise that she made to be friends with the former glee club members, and she made an effort to do so. But her teammates on the Cheerios made it completely impossible for her to do so with Unique. Bree and her cohorts on the Cheerios made it their personal mission to torment Wade/Unique on a daily basis, and made it clear that Kitty and the other Cheerios were expected to go along with it. Kitty didn't actually hurl insults herself, but she did laugh rather uneasily when socially necessary, and then avert her eyes in shame. She felt terrible but didn't know what else to do.

Instead of feeling accepted, she realized that she had never felt so alone in her life; except the time immediately after she had told her friend Julie her brother had done and she had her friends turn against her. Last year was the best year of her life, but judging by the first couple weeks, this was shaping up to be the worst.

*#*#*

The third week back at McKinley, Kitty was summoned to the office of Principal Sylvester. Kitty hadn't been taking care of Sue Sylvester's daughter since about the middle of last year so she wondered what it was about.

True to her word Sue had literally had the office stripped bare to the studs and redone so it looked almost nothing like its previous self. Gone we're the glass windowed wall and comfortable couches and end tables. In their place were a solid wall and much more functional chairs. The room was decked out in memorabilia from Sue's career as a cheerleading coach reminiscent of her old office in the athletic wing, with a smattering of other memorabilia from her life, including a framed picture of what Sue had once told her was her late sister Jean.

"I'll make this quick." Sue told her. "As you know I don't like to beat around the bush with things. You know I've always liked you. You remind me of elements of both a young Sue Sylvester and Quinn Fabray, but not quite as evil an underhanded.

"Now that Glee Club is over you need something besides cheerleading and drama to keep you busy. With Becky Jackson's graduation I have an opening for a secretary. But unless you're willing to legally change your name to Becky I can't call you my Becretary," Sue chuckled, and continued, "so we'll have to come up with some other name for you. Oh and my daughter misses you. The illegal alien I hired to be her nanny just doesn't have the knack for feeding and changing her that you do. What do you say? I'd hate to have to being back Figgins secretary Donna. The woman smells like feet."

Kitty just sat there and looked back at her with a shocked look for several minutes. "Let me get this straight. You canceled the Glee Club and in doing so took away one of the few things that gave me any joy at this God forsaken school. And now you want me to do you a favor?"

"Yes."

"You've got to be freaking kidding me! Why on Gods green earth would I do that?"

"Because if I make you my new right hand bitch again, you will be the most powerful student in the school, every student will have of answer to you, you will have something over Bree... You didn't think it had escaped my notice that the two of you don't exactly get along since I promoters her to Captain of the Cheerios... A post formerly held by you?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I told you, I like you-"

"-If that's true then bring back the Glee Club, the only thing, besides Artie at this school that's ever brought me any real joy." She said rising to her feet.

"That's never going to happen. Glee Club is gone and is never coming back. I finally defeated Will Schuester and I'm not backing down."

Kitty gave her 'a what are you talking about' look, followed by a deep sigh.

"I don't understand why you're doing this to Bree and the Cheerios. I thought you like the Cheerios. You promoted Bree to the head of the Cheerios yourself. Why help me take her down now?"

"Now that I've defeated Will Schuester and destroyed the Glee Club, I need to use my energies towards motivating another club, and I've chosen the Cheerios because they barely made it to nationals last year, and we're very close to being defeated. I always used being unpredictable as a motivator and it works for me. And beside Coach Roz Washington bothers me even worse than Will Schuester."

"I don't understand what does your feud with Mr. Schue have to do with anything?"

But Sue had finally lost patience with her.

"Take it or leave it Kitty. But I have to know by the end of the week. If you don't want it I have to set up some interviews. "

Kitty stood there for a few moments thinking it over in her head. Bree had become completely insufferable since being promoted to captain of the Cheerios and seriously needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Coach Roz wasn't going to do anything, and had become increasingly insufferable herself since their nationals win the previous spring.

"I don't need till the end of the week to decide. As long as we are agreed that in the broader pecking order I have authority over Bree, then we have a deal. That bitch has messed with my life and the people I care about for the last time! "

Sue extended her hand and shook Kitty's hand. "Welcome back Kitty. I know you'll do a hall of a job ... And for your first order of business ... Robin needs her diaper changed."

And that is how Kitty got her high pony back.

*#*#*

On her way to out of Sue's office, Kitty walked past Dottie Kazatori.

"Dottie I'm the new head bitch at McKinley. I'm in the market for a personal assistant. It will be your chance to get revenge on Bree for tricking you into slushing Tina and almost tasking the fall for it. Interested?"

"Absolutely."

"Good," Kitty said, tasking g her under her arm. "Here's What we're gonna do. ..."

###

Authors. Notes: that's all for one.. I have a few idea for upcoming chapters so please reviews and subscribe.


	2. Chapter 2: Betty

Chapter 2: Betty:

Author's Notes: thank you everyone for that feedback on chapter 1 and my other story: In My Arms Again (Somewhere, Somehow). I promise I am not going to make Artie and Kitty apart for 2 years. I already know how their next encounter is going to go. I just need to set some things up on that McKinley High front first. Besides, the longer they are apart, the more bittersweet their eventual reunion will be.

###

Betty Pillsbury wasn't happy as she rolled down the halls of McKinley high for the second time, the first day of her senior year.

The first time had been two days after the almost wedding of her dad's sister Emma to one of the teachers who worked with her here at this God Forsaken school, where she was the guidance counselor. The wedding itself hadn't happened because Emma, who suffered from OCD, had let her nerves get the best of her, and went all "runaway bride" on him. But since the wedding was all paid for by her eccentric 'ginger supremacist' grandparents, and lots of people had made the trip from out of town (and in some cases out of state), they all stayed and enjoyed the reception anyway, sans the happy couple, who eventually got back together and had a small private wedding.

At the wedding, she'd met a McKinley student named Artie whom her aunt had intended to set her up with. Their first encounter had been in the church sanctuary, but hadn't gone very well.

"Hi Betty?"

"Yes? On, God." This couldn't be him could it? He's in a freaking chair! She thought. But instead said, "What? Did I beat you to the last handicap spot? Sorry."

"I'm Artie. Miss Pillsbury said I should look out for you?" Oh God!

"He'll no." This couldn't be him.

"-uh-"

"No" it just couldn't.

"-Uh-"

"No. Wheel away." Her aunt wasn't that clueless was she?. "Wheel... the hell ... Away. "

He seemed confused, so she clued him in. "My aunt told me she was fixing me up with someone good-looking. So that was a lie."

"Oh, I mean some people think I'm kind of nerdy hot so..." He said sheepishly.

"No No No...Andrew Garfield is nerdy hot. You ... are Stephen Hawking's younger brother."

He finally seemed to be catching on. "Miss Pillsbury didn't tell you I was in a wheelchair did she?"

"Um, obviously not, because I don't date losers in chairs."

"But You're in a wheelchair. " still clueless. When was he gonna get it?

"Yeah. I'm also blonde, Captain of the cheerleaders at my hIgh school, and I've got this going on." She touched her massive breasts lifting them up.

She turned and wheels away leaving Artie dejected, hoping that would be the end of it, and began scouting for any other hot, single guys her age who were not in chairs. She'd discouraged his advances the same way she always kept people she didn't like at arms length by being a total bitch to him, and it seemed to have worked.

But for some reason he was relentless and kept coming back for more verbal abuse. He seemed to feed on her bitchiness. Later at the reception he approached her again.

"Oh my God. Did you do not get it before.?"

"Yeah, I did. More than you know. You're mean. You're awful, because you're angry because you're in the chair. I understand."

"Wow! Could you be more reductive and hamdi-centric? I'm fine with my chair. What I'm not fine with is suffering fools. If you think that makes me mean and awful -"

"I do."

What? How dare he talk back to me?

"However, I find you oddly compelling, so ...will you dance with me? I'm pretty legendary for my dance moves." He moved his shoulders all around, arms and shoulders up and down. Tongue out.

She finally relented and agreed to dance with him. He was nothing if not persistent, and she would probably never be rid of him unless she gave him what he wanted. "Alright, fine, one dance."

"That's all I ask " He raised his hands in surrender and lead her onto the dance floor.

As it turned out he was a good dancer, and once she let her guard down they really clicked, and spent the rest of the evening flirting together, where she learned that there was more to him than she'd thought. And on second thought, Stephen Hawking's younger brother wasn't so bad.

They had found out that they were not so different. They had both been paralyzed in a car crash as children. He at age 8, she at the much younger age of 2. Both had been confined to chairs ever since, but had not let that define who they were, even when others tried to. He could use his thigh muscles to a limited degree. But she was paralyzed from the mid chest down. They were both members of their schools respective show choirs. He sang Tenor while she sang Mezzo Soprano. While he had sometimes dreamed of walking again one day and dancing. She had no memories of walking so she had fully embraced the chair, and won a gold medal in the Special Olympics for wheelchair racing.

When the evening was over she'd invited him up to her room. As they approached the door, she handed him the key card with a smile. The two of them had hooked up that night, and it turned out that despite his disability he'd been the best lover she'd ever had, and with her social standing, she'd bedded several of the most popular and prominent guys at her school. Since he lacked the ability to use most of his legs, he'd managed to develop his other muscles and it really made a difference in bed. Since she was paralyzed from the chest down, she had an excuse to make him do most of the work.

After they'd done the deed and were basking in the afterglow, he asked her, "Was it good for you?"

She'd been uncomfortable admitting if at the time so she answered, "I don't know, you?"

"No ides."

Both laughed, and then they did it again.

The following morning they'd said their goodbyes without much fanfare, and she thought that was it, but the more she thought about it, the more she knew she had to tell him how much she'd enjoyed their time together, even if they ended up not seeing each other again.

That Monday, before heading home with the rest of her family, she'd made a visit to McKinley to tell him, and to apologize for being such a bitch at first. No one had ever put that much effort into getting to know her and it made her nervous.

She rolled down the halls, spotting him at his locker changing out his books, and rolled up to him.

"Surprised to see me?" She asked.

"No, I saw you two minutes ago," he told her, without turning his head. "You took forever wheeling up here."

Man, he could be bitchy too, when he wanted to be!

But she got serious. "Before I went home, I wanted to apologize for being so bitchy at the wedding. When I get nervous I get kind of mean."

"Kind of mean? You were like Idi Amin mean."

"I know I'm working on that. ... " she told him defensively. Then, "Anyway thanks for putting up with me... And thanks for..."

They both grinned nervously.

"You're like, the best I've ever had, and I've had a lot."

That seemed to take him aback for a moment, but he recovered quickly. "Oh, me too, I mean my sexual prowess is legendary throughout the Great Lakes States."

They both laughed.

He pulled out his phone, handed it to her. "Give me your digits woman."

"Why?" She wanted to know. Wasn't this just a hookup? You weren't supposed to actually date guys you met at weddings. That just wasn't how it was done.

"'Cause this Saturday I'm taking you out."

"-like on a date?" She asked in disbelief. But She put her numbers in his phone anyway.

"Yes," he answered. "Definitely a date. We'll grab some dinner, maybe see a movie."

She returned his phone and responded, "Or... we could just skip dinner, and movie and -"

"Charter a private jet, fly to Paris...dance under the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Élysées Yo when you're rolling with Artie Abrams, anything can happen. "

But, of course they both knew what she was getting at.

She smiled as he rolled away.

That Saturday, they went out on one date, which was decidedly more ordinary. They had dinner at a place called BreadstiX and watched the new X-Men movie, which she didn't really enjoy because of his constant monologue describing how each scene was shot or probably shot, and in some cases, what a better way might have been.

She found that they had little in common, other than great sex (which they couldn't resist indulging in again that night) and a bitchy banter. They lived in two different cities which would have made regular dating difficult. He wanted to try it, but she didn't and dumped him the next day via text message.

That had been almost seven months ago, and things had radically changed. Her mom had been offered a better job with a significantly better salary and benefits. The only downside was that it would require a move back to Lima, Ohio, which neither of her parents had seen as a negative since they had family there.

So her parents had, without much consideration for how it would affect her, moved the family and transferred her to McKinley. She'd been forced to give up her position as head cheerleader at Carmel High, and featured soloist in Vocal Adrenaline, and move to a new school where she knew almost no one.

She'd been nervous that it might be awkward seeing Artie again, but when she'd asked, her aunt Emma told her that he'd graduated and was living in New York, so she would not have to deal with that drama.

It was her senior year and she needed to find some comparable extracurriculars if she wanted to have any kind of social life. Unfortunately the school glee club had been disbanded even after winning the number two in the National Show Choir Competition (whose bright idea was that anyway?); and the Cheerleading coach Roz Washington was reluctant to put her on the squad, because of her chair, But once Emma and her uncle Will informed her that would be discrimination, and showed video of what she'd done on the Carmel High squad, she'd reluctantly admitted her as a junior member. So she'd get to wear the red and white Cheerios uniform, but likely wouldn't get to do much, even though it was her senior year. Her first meeting with Cheerios captain Bree, at their first practice that afternoon pretty much confirmed her hunch.

This was turning out to crappy year. Hopefully there was some other club she could join that would value her talents.

Kitty was walking down that hall when she'd seen an semi-familiar girl in a wheelchair. She knew she had seen her somewhere before, but couldn't place where. She was wearing a Cheerios uniform and attended practice that afternoon.

When she was asked about it, Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuster had told her that this was her niece Betty, whom Kitty had barely missed meeting at her almost wedding, but hadn't due to a week long case of that Asian Bird Flu.

After thinking about it she remembered that this was the girl with disturbingly massive boobs who visited McKinley after meeting Artie at their teachers almost wedding, then dumped him after one date. He'd been really hurting after that. According to puck who hadn't gotten that Asian Bird Flu and made it to the wedding, Artie and the girl had hooked up that night. The thought of it made Kitty really jealous.

What the hell was she doing here?

She resolved to find out more about the girl so she could destroy her.


	3. Chapter 3: Drama

Chapter 3: Drama

By Wilde Abrams

Monday morning, Kitty wasted no time assuming her new role as Principal Sue's new Head Bitch. She arrived bright and early and took her place at the desk in the outer office.

She was just finishing up setting the desk up the way she wanted it when her nemesis strode into the office. When she saw Kitty there any stopped in her tracks.

Bree looked her up and down in a condescending way and asked, "What are YOU doing here?"

"Oh," Kitty began, relishing this, "haven't you heard? I'm Principal Sylvester's new personal assistant?"

Bree took a moment to take this in, but decided not to comment. "Whatever. I need to see her."

"Do you have an appointment?'

"I don't need an appointment!"

"I'm afraid you do. Principal Sylvester is a very busy woman and if she dropped everything and made time every time someone decided to drop by she would never get any work done."

Kitty glanced at her planner. "I can fit you in at 3:30 this afternoon..."

"That's when Cheerios practice is," Bree reminded her.

Kitty gave her an evil smile. "Well you could always tell me what you want and I could go over it with her."

Bree was taken aback in a rare moment of speechlessness and Kitty took full advantage of it.

"Now this is how it's gonna be. I'm the new Head Bitch In Charge ... You may be the captain of the Cheerios, at least for now, but every student and club goes through me if they need something from Principal Sylvester. If you want my support and cooperation then here's how it's gonna be.

"As of right now the torturing of Unique is over. Further, you will stop your active attacks on former glee club members...and most importantly... You will not tell me who I can and can not socialize with.

"If you can comply with that then we will have a decent working relationship. If not, I will do everything in my substantial power to block every proposal you and request that you put forward."

"This isn't over," Bree responded.

"No," Kitty responded. "It's just the beginning."

Bree stormed out and Kitty smiled.

*#*#*

With the glee club gone, Mr. Schuster suddenly found that he had a lot of free time on his hands and decided that he would be able to put his energy into the drama club this year. The four years he'd run New Directions, he hadn't been able to give that club all of the attention it deserved, and the last two years he'd taken significant steps back because the New Directions was requiring more of his time, going so far as to completely delegate the fall musical to others the previous year. This year he vowed to make it up to the club. Normally the club would begin meeting just before tryouts for the fall musical, but this year he held the first meeting the fourth week of school, hoping to get people who were interested involved before their other extracurricular activities were set.

Since the choir room had been turned into a computer lab, he had to use the auditorium for meetings. This didn't really bother him, because truth be told he thought that practicing in the same space as you performed in would help get the students more comfortable. That was part of why he used the auditorium so much with Glee.

In his first meeting he got a nice group of both familiar and new faces. As he expected, the remainder of the former Glee Club members were there: Jake, Marley, Ryder, Wade/Unique, and Kitty. He and Emma's niece Betty had also shown up. He also recognized Dottie Kazatori and a few students from his previous and current history classes.

Among the new and unrecognized students was a young blonde girl. He notice some uneasiness between she and Ryder, and wondered what the story was there...

He also saw some apparent hostility between Kitty and Betty, and made a mental note to ask them about it. He didn't want drama (so to speak) right out of the gate if he could help it.

Surprisingly he also saw three other members of the Cheerios. If Sue were still running the cheerleaders he might suspect that one or more of them had been sent to spy on him, but coach Roz Washington was more direct than that, and since the Drama Club only met weekly, and had a very minimal budget, he could not imagine Sue having any problems.

"Good afternoon," he said. "I'd like to welcome you to the first meeting of the Drama Club this year. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mr. Schuster, and I along with Coach Bieste, who couldn't be here today because she's having football tryouts, will be the drama club advisors for the year. In addition to our weekly meetings we will put on two productions this year. The fall production is traditionally a miscal. In recent years we've done both Grease, and West Side Story."

He began handing out a sheets of paper. "Drama is all about self expression, it is an opportunity to express parts of yourself that you normally would not express. In order to do that, this needs to remain a safe space. Everyone here needs to know that what happens and is said will stay with the group. For that reason, I am asking that each of you sign these confidentiality agreements. Those of you who were in Glee Club will recognize the form as we used it in there as well. You can also all rest assured that coach Bieste and I will also keep what goes on here confidential as well, to the extent allowed by law."

"What do you mean?" The new blonde asked.

"There are laws that require teachers and school staff to report things like child abuse or neglect that we suspect or is disclosed to us," he told her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryder shift uncomfortably in his chair. "But other than that, you can be assured that what happens In here stays in here."

There were nods of agreement from the former glee club members and a couple others, but clearly some of the others were not yet on board with the idea.. "I realized that some of you are being taken by surprise by this, so I'm giving everyone till the beginning of the next meeting to turn the these in. Those who are comfortable can drop them off on your way out.

"For now, I'd like to take a moment to go around the room and introduce ourselves and explain why we chose to become members of this club. I'll start. My name is Will Schuester. Most people call me Mr. Schue. I'm married to you guidance counselor, Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuster. I spent about 2 years as a substitute teacher in the district, and I've been a teacher here at McKinley for 14 years. I taught Spanish for about a dozen years, and then moved to history 2 years ago. I've been one of the Drama Club advisors most of my time here, and was director of our glee club The New Directions for 4 years until it was disbanded last spring due to budget cuts -"

"- I thought it was because you didn't win nationals," the Cheerio with the neck brace chimed in.

"-like I said," he corrected, "because we didn't win, our budget got cut. I was a member of the National Champion Show Choir team here in 1993, and when I was your age I dreamed of being a professional singer and being the next Vanilla Ice or a star on Broadway ... But over time my dream evolved, and I became a teacher who inspired my student to reach for theirs. Kitty, how about you go next."

"Hi everybody. I'm Kitty Wilde. I'm a junior this year and I'm here because I enjoy performing, and am hoping to get a better role in this years musical than last year." There were chuckles from the former glee members. Despite an excellent performance Kitty was not happy playing a secondary role, something she let everyone know many times. "I was in Glee last year and am in my second year as a member of the Cheerios. I'm also Principal Sylvester's assistant, which means I spend a lot of time in the office, and anything that needs to be dealt with by the principal goes through my desk first." Will smiled even though he still didn't understand Sue's proclivity to use s student as her secretary.

"Hi I'm Marley Rose and I'm also here because I like to perform. I was Sandy in last years production of Grease, and was in Glee last year. I want to be a singer on the radio and I write my own songs. Oh, and my mom works I'm the cafeteria."

"I'm Ryder Lynn and I'm on the football team. I played Danny in Grease and was also a member of Glee last year. Oh and I'm a Junior. "

"I'm Jake Puckerman, and I also love to perform. I play the guitar. I'm also a Junior."

"I'm Unique Adams. I'm a Senior this year and I was also a member of the Glee Club both here and at my old school. For the record, despite what my anatomy may look like, I'm a girl. I realize that may be hard for some of you to accept, but I hope in time you will. I was cast as Rizzo in Grease last year, but my overprotective parents removed me from the show. Hoping for a better outcome this year."

"I'm Betty Pillsbury I'm a senior and new to McKinley this year. I'm a member of the Cheerios and at my old school I was the Captain of the Cheerleading squad and a featured soloist in Vocal Adrenaline. I'm here because my aunt recommended it. "

Several former glee club members shifted in their seats and shared nervous glances at the mention of their former rivals.

"My name is Marissa," the new blonde said. "I'm a Sophmore this year and I wasn't in Glee Club or the musical, but I decided I needed to make some new friends and thought it might be fun to try my hand at acting and singing . . "

"Welcome Marissa," Will said.

"My name is Dottie. I'm a member of the Cheerios and I was never in Glee Club but I was the personal assistant to one of the Senior members last year. It was the longest year of my life... I'm here because I want to try something new."

"My name is Jordan Stern," the Cheerio with the neck brace told them. "I'm hoping to find a fun extracurricular activity to fill my time with after I am eventually forced to quit the Cheerios, because Coach Roz is a psychopath who is trying to kill us. "

Several people chuckled.

They continued through the rest of the group. After the last student had spoken Mr. Schu thanked them for sharing and handed out books containing Death of a Salesman, the first play they would be reading, and told everyone to start brainstorming for what they wanted to do for that fall musical. Fortunately the rental and performance fees were paid for by a grant (something he'd managed to arrange when he was on the a Blue Ribbon Panel For Arts Education the previous year), but since that budget for the Drama Club was next to nothing, they would need to use the props and sets they had, or do a fundraiser cover the costs.

Ryder was uncomfortable during that entire Drama Club meeting. He hadn't anticipated 'her' being here. It had taken weeks for him to get over being catfished by Unique, and he'd even almost forgiven him/her, But now the physical manifestation of that experience was right across the room from him, and it all began flooding back again: the feeling of being exposed, of not knowing who this person was who he had told all of those private stories to and shared those pictures with. Of serenading a girl he'd never even met.

He was about to get up and leave when Mr. Schue's voice called out to him, "Ryder, can I see you for a minute?"

"Sure Mr. Schue, what's up?"

"I couldn't help notice that there was some uneasiness between you and Marissa. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"It might help if you did. You're gonna be in here all year and probably gonna see her around in the halls too. "

"I'm not sure I am going to stay in drama club this year."

"Ryder, you need to face your problems head on, not avoid them. If I taught you all nothing else last year I hope it was that."

Ryder sighed, "Okay Mr. Schue. Remember last year when I was bring catfished by someone calling herself Katie? Well that was her."

"I thought it was Unique?"

"It was, but that's the girl whose image he used. I didn't find that out until after I had drug her by the hand into the choir room and serenaded her with Your Song by Elton John. I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life and seeing her here just brought that whole thing back again. I thought I was over it."

"I see." He said, placing an empathetic hand on Ryder's shoulder, "I can understand why that would make you uncomfortable, but let me ask you something, is any of that Marissa's fault?

"No, no I guess not. I suppose I should talk to her, eh?"

"That would probably be a good idea, yes. It's going to be a long year if you don't. And if you're still having issues, I'm sure my wife would be happy to talk to you about it. "

"Thanks Mr. Schue."

That Wednesday evening Will and Emma had dimmer with Betty and her parents as sort of a welcome to town. During some down time, Will asked her about the reaction that she'd gotten from Kitty.

"I don't know uncle Will, but she's been watching me ever since I got here. I'm not sure what her problem is, but I was wondering if it was my chair. "

"That's very unlikely, she dated a guy in a wheelchair last year and they were good friends before that."

"Let me guess, Artie Abrams?"

"Yeah how did you?..." But he stopped himself,

"Artie and I met last year at your almost wedding and went on a date afterword, but things didn't work out . Somehow she must have found out...what should I do Uncle Will?"

"Never underestimate that resourcefulness of Kitty Wilde."

*#*#*

Author's Notes: Okay folks you know the drill. Read and review. The more reviews I get the more inspired I will be and the faster I will get to the chapter where Kitty and Artie get to see each other again.


	4. Chapter 4: Marissa & Kitty & Betty, OhMy

Glee - Season Six: A New Beginning: Chapter 4: Marissa &amp; Kitty, and Betty, Oh, My!

By WildeAbrams

Authors Notes: hello all, sorry it has been so long since my last update! First I want to clear up a misconception that I've run into. Some of you have noticed that I started a new story called The Ballad of Kitty and Artie, leading at least one of you to believe that perhaps I had abandoned this story. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I haven't stopped. I just hit a dry spell on this one. I've actually been writing both simultaneously, because they are two parts of the same story arc and I decided that I needed a little inspiration. I've established that Kitty goes back to being her old b*** self without Artie and the glee club around anymore, but I needed to get her right, so I went back to the beginning.

This chapter is going to feature interaction between Kitty and Betty, as well as Marisa (the image of catfish) and Ryder, so I need Kitty to be at her bitchiest lol. Trust me, I have outlines and a lot of stuff written, so none of this will be abandoned.

I've also gone back through all of the episodes as well as my notes, and discovered that I had gotten some of the chronology wrong (specifically the date of the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, which has to match up with the date of the birth of Will and Emma's son, and Rachel's Broadway Debut). So I needed to rework the outline to accommodate that. Now that I've figured that stuff out, updates should come faster.

I write what I'm inspired to write, so there's also the fact that I have a bunch of stuff from season 4 written but can't publish it until the early stuff is done.

For those of you who have read the first three chapters, you probably want to go back and re-read them, as I've reuploaded them with revisions. I have a much better idea where the story is going than i did when i started, and needed to clarify some things.

I hope you enjoy the latest update!

#$#$#

During the early morning hours, Kitty Wilde walked through the halls of the school beginning with the former choir room which was now a computer lab, through familiar halls toward the auditorium as she sang So Far Away:

So far away

Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore

It would be so fine to see your face at my door

Doesn't help to know you're just time away

Long ago I reached for you and there you stood

Holding you again could only do me good

Oh, how I wish I could

But you're so far away

One more song about moving along the highway

Can't say much of anything that's new

If I could only work this life out my way

I'd rather spend it being close to you

But you're so far away

Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore

It would be so fine to see your face at my door

Doesn't help to know you're so far away

Traveling around sure gets me down and lonely

Nothing else to do but close my mind

I sure hope the road don't come to own me

There's so many dreams I've yet to find

But you're so far away

Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore

It would be so fine to see your face at my door

Doesn't help to know you're so far away

As she ended up at the photo of for nationals win photo hanging on the wall in the annex of the auditorium, she kissed her fingers and then affixed them to the photo of her boyfriend Artie Abrams.

*/*/*

Marissa sat in her history class listening to Mr. Schue drone on about some civil war battle and tried to make sense of what had happened in Drama Club.

She had been pleasantly supposed to see Ryder, the cute boy who had serenaded her with that sweet Elton John song the previous spring, but then proceeded of ignore her for the rest of the year. She understood that he might have been uncomfortable around her for a while, given the fact that he'd been catfished by someone using her image. But it had been seven months. Shouldn't he have gotten over it at least a little? She had really been looking forward to drama club this year, but if things didn't get any better, she might have to bow out. She'd always been the shy quiet type and if she was going to use drama to get out of her shell then she was going to need to feel comfortable in the club and right now she didn't.

*/*/*

Kitty sat in the lunch commons and glared at "the bitch", as she had begun to think of Betty. It was easier than "the girl in the wheelchair with the disturbingly massive boobs," as she'd always refer to her. She was eating with a group of Cheerios, including Celeste and Suzanne, two girls who had previously been in Kitty's lunch crew.

Kitty, meanwhile, ate alone. Ever since Principal Sylvester had promoted Bree to Captain of the Cheerios, she had discouraged the others from socializing with her as punishment for foiling her plan to humiliate Tina at prom the previous spring. She knew that Bree would like nothing better than to kick her off the squad entirely, but she was one of the strongest members, and Coach Roz would never allow that.

Things had lessened a bit since Kitty had become Principal Sues assistant and laid down the law with Bree, but she knew it was far from over.

For now she had to bide her time until the opportunity arose to destroy her enemies.

Normally she would eat with Marley and Ryder or Unique, but they were off somewhere else today. A year ago, she would have been eating at the popular table with cheerleaders and jocks, but she had given up that privilege by joining and befriending the Glee Club that previous year and dating Artie. Initially she'd been able to keep her feet in both worlds, but when Bree - the most vile human being on the planet - was made Captain of the Cheerios the previous spring, she'd been forced to make a choice. And she chose Glee.

Initially she's been completely comfortable with her choice because it had gotten her some real friends, as well as her boyfriend Artie. At times like this, however, she felt a small part of her regret her choice. It sucked being alone, and she really missed having a boyfriend who actually went to school with her. Phone conversations and video chat via Google Hangouts were just not the same, and had been happening less and less.

*/*/*

Betty sat at lunch with her new friends Celeste and Suzanne telling them about her past accomplishments as Captain of her old cheerleading squad, and featured soloist of Vocal Adrenaline. They seemed genuinely impressed with her accomplishments, but Betty was having a hard time following the conversation. She could practically feel a Kitty's glare on the back of her head. Finally the other girls noticed the source of her distraction.

"How much longer are you going to put up with her glaring at you like that?" Celeste wanted to know.

"Hmm?"

"Kitty. We've all noticed her watching you with that cold glare of hers. You're a senior. She's a junior. Put her in her place." Celeste explained.

"I'm new here, and to the squad. I don't want to antagonize anyone and make any enemies this close to the beginning of the year." She explained. "Just trying to minimize the drama."

"You don't really need to worry about that." Suzanne added. "The only friends she has left are the former glee club group. Everyone else stopped caring about her when she started dating Artie Abrams, and most of the jocks and cheerleaders started to hate her when she crossed Bree last spring over the prom queen election."

"What do you mean?"

"For the previous two years, prom queen has been some loser from glee club, and Bree and the rest of us felt that one of the three of us Cheerios who were nominated should win. At the time Kitty was the most popular. But not only did she decide not to campaign for it but she put her support behind that other glee candidate. We tried to convince her of the error of her ways, even going so far as to make posters for her. But she tore them down, and replaced them with ones for her friend."

"Then when it became obvious that it was a losing battle," Celeste continued, "Kitty crossed us and attempted to save her friend from being Carried at prom by an underclassmen girl Bree bribed. She wasn't completely successful but still crossed us."

"What's her problem with you anyway?" Suzanne wanted to know.

"I hooked up with Artie Abrams at my aunt and uncles almost wedding. From the way he pursued me I thought was single."

"When was this?"

"Last Valentine's day weekend."

"Um, Kitty and Artie didn't start dating until just before prom in April. At the time Kitty was dating that creepy Puckerman guy."

"Jake?"

"No, his older brother ... I think his name is Noah, but everyone called him Puck. He was like 20 years old and creeped most of us out. She started dating him after Jake dumped her after and refused her attempts to get back together. "

"Then why does she even care that I hooked up with and dated Artie?"

"I think Kitty's been in love with Artie pretty much since she met him." Suzanne added. "We used to be friends and I saw her watching and talking to him several times last year. She acted like a total bitch when people were watching and very different when she didn't think anyone was. She wasn't at the wedding, but when I texted her that everyone was hooking up, she seemed jealous when I told her about you."

"That makes sense I guess." Betty realized.

"She was so obvious. But she would never date him because of his social standing until just before prom when she had a change of heart. She's got it bad. Even now with him graduated and the two of them agreeing that they can see other people, she's still pining over him. She's still got his pic in her locker and on her phone. I've seen her looking at it several times."

"Wait I thought they were broken up?"

"Yeah so does everybody else... But tell that to Kitty." Celeste said. "But she thinks they are going to pick things up when she graduates."

Betty rolled her eyes. "If the way he pursued me is any indication, I'm sure he's bedded two or three other women by now."

"Why would anyone want to screw someone in a wheelchair?" Celeste asked, then realizing what she said, added, "sorry..."

"You'd be surprised," Betty responded, showing no indication that she was insulted."I've bedded some of the hottest jocks at Carmel. But believe it or not Artie Abrams was and continues to be the best I've ever had."

"Really?"

"Yes, I may be in a chair, but I'm also a cheerleader, and I have this." She hefted her ample breasts.

"I meant about him being the best," she clarified with a giggle.

The bell rang, and the three of them gathered their belongings to go to the next class.

"Thanks for the insight ladies," Betty told them

"No problem."

*/*/*

Kitty watched this exchange from across the quad. The longer the three girls talked the angrier she got. When the bell rang, she saw Betty wheel off I'm the opposite direction of the other two. Kitty tossed her trash and darter after Betty.

"Hey, crippy-slutwhore." She called our.

When they were out of the crowd of students, Betty stopped, turned, and looked Kitty over up and down condescendingly, "What do you want, looser?"

"What's your angle?"

"Excuse me?"

"What are you plotting?"

"I'm not plotting anything except that best route to my next class."

"I think you know what I mean."

"Why don't you tell me and then you will be sure that I know what you mean."

"Why are you here?"

"Relax, itty bitty titty Kitty, I know you're jealous that I hooked up with your ex boyfriend, but news flash you weren't together at the time."

"He's not my ex-"

"Um, news flash! You're allowed to see other people. That's called breaking up."

"Neither of us is actually dating anyone, and you had better not be planning to try to steal him back!"

"No thanks. He may be good in the sack, but he's also boring as hell. He totally ruined that X-Men movie for me talking throughout it," Betty told her.

"And as for him not seeing anyone else..., Um, I find that head to believer. That boy has a voracious sexual appetite, and if you made the mistake of giving him a free pass to see others, I'm sorry but he's definitely been screwing around."

Kitty was so angry about the way this bitch was disparaging Artir that she lost her temper.

"You take that back!"

"Why? it's true!"

And with that Kitty lashed out and slapped her full on the face.

The two of them just stare at eachother for a moment, before Kitty groaned, turned and stormed off.

Betty sat there stunned.

*/*/*

That afternoon Marissa was sitting in the library during her study period when Unique approached her.

"Do you mind if I sit down," she asked.

"Go ahead," the younger girl responded.

"I'm Unique," she began. "I thought we should talk."

"I know who you are. I remember from drama club." She asked. "Talk about what?"

"I think I owe you an apology and an explanation," Unique began.

"For what?" She wanted to know.

"I'm the reason Ryder is treating you so poorly."

"You're the catfish ?"

"You know about that?"

"Yes. "

"I'm sorry I chose your image," Unique told her. "I just needed something that I thought he would like and that looked nothing like me."

"So you had a crush on him?"

"Yes, but there is more to it than that..." She she launched into the story of how Ryder had refused to acknowledge that Unique was a girl because she had a penis and keep calling her dude. She had adopted this alter ego to try go get him to see things differently, but found herself falling in love and gotten in too deep to stop. Things had eventually come to a header and he'd threatened to leave glee. They eventually worked things out, but things were never the same after that.

"So does that mean you're over him?" Marissa wanted to know.

"Yeah, pretty much," Unique told her, but seeing the hopeful look in Marissa's eyes, she added, "Don't get your hopes up though. That boy only has eyes for Marley Rose, and ever since she dumped Jake Puckerman, he's gotten it into his head that he's got a chance with her."

Marissa deflated.

"Don't worry girl, she said. "There are plenty of other fish I'm the sea," and put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

*/*/*

That afternoon Kitty was asked to come into Principal Sylvester's office where Emma and Betty Pillsbury were sitting. Betty had a noticeable red mark on her cheek, which Kitty pretended to ignore.

"Kitty," Sue began, "what would you say if I told you that this student had accused you of assault!"

"I would say their she has no proof," Kitty answered matter-of-factly.

"What do you call this!?" Betty said angrily, gesturing to the swollen mark on her face.

"Obviously the result of some form of accident," Kitty answered. "You really ought to be more careful. If your face swells up so much that it can't be covered up with makeup, Coach Roz might suspend you from the Cheerios...wouldn't that be a shame?"

Kitty gave her an evil grin.

"You did this!" Betty told her angrily.

"Do you have a witnesses?"

"Of courses not! You made sure to do it in an empty corridor.

"Then it's her word against mine," Kitty concluded, addressing Principal Sylvester. "And in this case I think my word as a third year student and student secretary holds more weight then this newbie."

"Good enough for me." Sue said.

"Aren't you going to do something!?" Emma asked.

"No," sue told her, "I'm not."

Both Pillsbury women a stormed our.

When they were alone, Sue asked, "Did she deserve it?"

"She was attacking the character of my man," Kitty said simply

"Oh, How is Stumbles?" Sue asked.

"Fine," Kitty told her

As Kitty turned to leave, Sue added, "Be more careful next time."

*/*/*

Ryder Lynn walked into the study hall and approached Marissa who was sitting at the table.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"Are you sure you want to?" She asked. "I mean my presence might be too traumatic for you," she added sarcastically.

"I deserved that," he told her. "Look, I know that you are aware of what happened last spring with Unique..."

She nodded.

"And if you remember from the day we met, it really shook me up," he added.

She nodded, "yeah."

"Well the truth is if really shook me to the core. I lashed out at my friends, threatened to quit Glee Club, and really began to question a lot of things," he explained. "Now I know it's not your fault, but I couldn't help but be reminded of that when I saw you, the physical manifestation of what happened -"

"- and I totally get that, that's why I kept my distance the rest of last year," Marissa added. "But it's been like 7 months!"

"-and I should have gotten over it by now," he added. "You're right. I've been acting like a dick to you. That's not fair, and I'm sorry."

He took her hand.

She smiled, and said, "you're forgiven, as long as you make an effort to change your behavior."

"Deal," he promised. "I really am sorry."

"I know," she told him with a smile. "Now that we're take care of that. Can I maybe give you my number...!"

"Um, I'm sorry," he responded. "But Marley is single now and I just feel I need to peruse that more before giving up on it."

She smiled and added, "I understand. If that doesn't work out or when you get tired of chasing after her, let me know."

He nodded.

And so we have it. Most of the conflict has been resolved or calmed down. I know the story has gotten kind of dark, but the next chapter is a little happier so stay tuned.


	5. Chapter 5: A Thousand Miles

Glee: A New Beginning: Chapter 5: A Thousand Miles

By Wilde Abrams

Authors Notes: I wanted to take a minute to remind my readers that this series was planned when almost nothing was known about about season 6 of Glee so everything at McKinley was AU but the references to the New York stuff still followed cannon for the most part. This story marks the first major divergence. It take place a few weeks after the episode Tested in which Artie behaved in a very uncharacteristic way by hooking up with two different girls and perusing a third (apparently completely forgetting about Kitty) and contracting the clap. In this story, he did date several girls while in New York, because he thought Kitty was doing that same, but did not hook up with them.

For a variety of reasons this story jumps ahead and takes place almost 2 months later, the week before thanksgiving.

* # * # *

For the next two months things settled down at McKinley. Drama club decided to forego doing a fall musical, and spend more time and resources and do their annual musical in the spring. The club continued to meet twice a week and practiced acting from plays in books already owned by the English department. They planned to begin preparing for the spring musical as soon as they got back from their winter, post holiday break.

Little by little, Marley began to come out of the funk she's been in ever since she and Jake had broken up. She and Ryder had been seen hanging out again, but she insisted that they were just friends.

Things looked up a little bit for Kitty as well. After Bree realized that Kitty had real power as Principal Sylvester's assistant, she began to back off and leave she and the others former glee members alone, and for the most part the cheerleaders and jocks just ignored them. They once again began to socialize in public, ever with Unique. The group of them began to eat lunch together again, and sometimes other Drama club members joined them.

Kitty and Betty continued to take verbal jabs and make evil glares at each other, but there were no further physical altercations, and with no witnesses to the first one, the matter was officially dropped. The red mark on Betty's face warranted nothing but an inquisitive look from Coach Roz.

Mid-Term grades were down pretty much across the board at McKinley, frustrating Principal Sylvester, who was mystified as to the reason. Several key football players and Cheerios were in danger of becoming academically ineligible. She wrote it off as a fluke and decided to wait till the end of the semester before disciplining her teachers.

# # #

The Monday morning before thanksgiving, Kitty was having lunch with Marley, Ryder, Unique, and Dottie, when she saw a familiar face Approach.

What is she doing here, she thought. Oh my God, has smithing happened to him?.

She suddenly felt sick of her stomach.

"Kitty," the woman said.

"Yes, Mrs. Abrams? What are you doing here?" Then after a moment she added, "Is Artie okay?"

"Artie is fine," Mrs Abrams reassured her.

Relief flowed over her when she heard those words. Despite deciding to give him the freedom to live his own life, and date if he wanted to, she was still very much in love with Artie Abrams. She didn't know what she would do if something happened to him.

She felt the eyes of the rest of the group, on her and she was brought back to reality. "Oh, I'm sorry. Everyone this is Artie's mom, Mrs. Abrams-"

"-I keep telling this one to call me Nancy, Mrs. Abrams makes me seem like an old maid-"

"-sorry, Nancy Abrams. Nancy, this is Marley, Ryder, Unique, and Dottie. "

She greeted each of of them in turn and exchanged pleasantries about how much they liked her son.

"Well it was nice to meet all of you," she told them. "I'm so happy Artie has so many good friends, but if it's okay, I'd like to steal Kitty away for a few minutes."

Amid a chorus of sure no problems Kitty rose to her feet and said, "I was done anyway, I'll see you guys later in gle-drama club,"

She rose to her feet, tossed what was left of her lunch tray and joined Nancy, who lead her away from the crowd of students.

When they were safely alone Nancy asked, "How are you doing Kitty? I haven't talked to you since Artie moved to New York."

"I'm doing okay," Kitty said not sure what how much she should tell her.

"How are things between you and my son?" She asked. "He doesn't really tell me much."

"We're doing fine as far as I know," Kitty answered. "We ... we talk or email about once a week or so like we agreed that we would."

"Yeah, but how are you really doing?" The older woman pressed.

Kitty could see that the usual pleasantries would not suffice, so she stepped closer to the her and lowered her voice and said, "I have to admit it's been kind of hard. I miss him."

"I thought you loved him?" She asked.

"I do," Kitty said.

"Then I don't get it. why did you agree to this 'open relationship'? That's the term right? Where you're allowed to see other people?"

"We didn't use that exact word, but I guess that's what it is," Kitty told her.

After a slight hesitation, she added, "That was actually my idea," she lowered her head, averting her eyes. "I wanted to give him the freedom to do what he wanted, and for him to be attached to me didn't seem fair to him when we're hundreds of miles apart."

But Nancy Abrams wasn't buying it. "Cut the crap Kitty! If you love someone that much then you want to be with them no matter what. What's really going on?"

Kitty leaned in even father and lowered her gaze before she continued almost at a whisper. "I was afraid alright. All year last year we watched what happened when our friends in the glee club were separated from the ones that they loved. Look at Kurt and Blaine, Tina and Mike, Finn and Rachel, Brittany and Santana. Every one of them had problems when they tried to do long distance relationships! They grew apart. One would meet someone else, or one would cheat on the other one or whatever, but they all had problems, and the simple fact is I'm afraid of getting hurt.

"For years I protected myself from being close with people and Artie is the first one in a long time that I let get close to me to the point where he could hurt me even if it was unintentional."

"Kitty you and Artie are not them. I know my son. Artie loves you," she reassured her, placing her hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "He would never cheat on you, especially given his past track record with girls cheating on him."

Kitty slowly nodded. "My head and my heart know that, but there is this part inside of me that can't or won't believe that anyone could love me that much."

The two women continued to walk through more minutes in silence before the elder woman broke the silence by asking, "Do you know when you are going to get to see him again?"

"Unfortunately no," Kitty answered. "No-one here seems to have a desire to visit the alumni in New York, and I haven't heard anything about he coming home for a visit."

"I take it by your answer you wanted to go see him."

"Yes, of course," she told her. "But I can't go by myself and none of my friends seem to be interested."

Nancy Abrams nodded hesitating for a moment

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course," Kitty said.

"Artie's dad and I are going to be going down there to visit him over Thanksgiving weekend. This is the first time we've done anything like this since the divorce. We've rented a hotel suite with a fold out couch with a bed on it and we were wondering if you would like to come with us."

Kitty smiled, "Are you kidding me?"

"Now you would need to pay for your plane ticket and some of your expenses however the room is paid for."

Kitty smiled broadly, hugging the older woman, "Oh thank you! thank you! thank you! thank you!"

Then she noticed people around them staring and went back to her more reserved self.

"We also have to get your parents permission of course."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Kitty said. "Once she got to know him, my mom really starting to like Artie."

"Ok good. But remember this is a secret. I asked Rachel for all the details on the sly and she probably thinks I'm being overprotective mom, but we're going to go down there and surprise him. Only Rachel and Sam know."

Kitty nodded. "I promise. Thank you so much for this. I miss Artie so much!"

"We all do, dear," the older woman told her. "And I'm sure he's missed you as well."

After a few more moments of silence the older woman added, "Okay I've got to go I'll text you with the details. Keep it to yourself as much as possible, just in case any of your friends forget and happen to talk to Artie. Make sure anyone who does knows it's going to be a surprise. "

And with that she was gone.

# # #

That evening Kitty talked to her parents about the idea, and while her dad was still a little skeptical, and neither of her parents were thrilled about her missing Thanksgiving, her mom was really excited that Kitty was going to get to see Artie again. Both of her parents liked the change that came over her when she and Artie were together, and they gave her their blessing, as well as the money she would need for the trip.

As she lay in bed Kitty began thinking about Artie and how excited she was now that she was going to finally get to see him again. They hadn't seen each other in the flesh since he'd moved to New York the first week of August. She didn't realize until she started talking to Mrs. Abrams how much she really missed him.

Mrs. Abrams was right; this open relationship thing sucked, but Kitty still had her insecurities and her fears. She didn't know what she was going to do, but decided to focus instead on how excited she was finally get to see him again.

This was going to be an amazing weekend.

# # #

Kitty was on cloud nine all day Tuesday. Whenever people asked what was up, she retorted with something snarky. She didn't want to give anything away but it was hard not to. It was finally happening. She was going to get to see her Artie!

# # #

Wednesday morning Kitty skipped class and headed to the auditorium during her study hall and began to sing, A Thousand Miles by Vanessa my way downtown, walking fast,

Kitty:

Faces pass and I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead, just making my way,

Making my way through the crowd

And I need you, / And I miss you, / And now I wonder,

If I could fall, into the sky

Do you think time, would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you tonight

It's always times like these when I think of you

And I wonder if you ever think of me

'Cause everything's so wrong and I don't belong

Living in your precious memory

Cause I'll need you,

And I miss you,

And now I wonder

If I could fall, into the sky,

Do you think time, would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you,

Tonight.

And I, I

Don't wanna let you go

I, I

Drown in your memory

I, I

Don't wanna let this go

I, I don't

Making my way downtown, walking fast

Faces pass and I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead, just making my way

Making a way through the crowd

And I still need you,

And I still miss you,

And now I wonder

If I could fall, into the sky,

Do you think time, would pass us by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

If I could fall into the sky

Do you think time would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

If I could just hold you

Tonight

If if could fall into the night

Do you think time would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could see you

If I could hold you

Tonight

Kitty smiled, as the music finished. It was finally happening. She was finally going to see him!

"Someone's in a good mood!" Marley said, startling Kitty.

"Geez! Marley, you scared me!"

She turned to see her best friend enter from the fourier.

"You're in a good mood, and happier than I've seen you in months," Marley observed. "Than can only mean one thing... When is Artie getting in?"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration isn't it?" Kitty retorted. "And he's not. I'm going to New York with his parents to see him. Keep that under your Newsies hat, it's a surprise. "

"How did you manage that?" Her best friend wanted to know. "And no, not really. You've had a big gray cloud following you around since the day you saw him off back in August."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "That's what his mom wanted to to talk to me about Monday. She invited me. We're leaving after lunch."

Marley walled up and gave her a big hug! "I'm so happy for you! Say hi to him for me."

"I will, thanks," she told her. "And remember, mums the word."

"I won't say anything," she told her.

# # #

Kitty skipped lunch that day and met the Abrams' back at her house where she returned her car and retrieve her suitcase and carry on bag.

This was the first time she was meeting Artie's dad, James. He seemed nice enough, but she spent most of the trip jabbering with Nancy in the car, at the airport, and finally on the plane until they decided to nap the rest of the flight.

# # #

When the plane landed and they'd retrieved their luggage and carry-ons, they were met by Sam Evans, who had been elected to be their guide until the following day.

Kitty gave him a hug. They'd never been particularly close, but had spent a lot of time together preparing for nationals when Mr. Schue had decided to mix things up for the competition. The nationals they had lost. The nationals they had performed in to honor Finn. The competition they should have won. That she was sure they would have won if they hadn't decided to do things different. But Mr. Schue had wanted to feature the seniors. And they had lost. No, she didn't want to think about that. She wanted to concentrate on the positive, not the regrets of their past. "Good to see you Sam," she told him.

"Nice to see you too Kitty," he told her. "I wasn't really expecting you though."

"Change of plans," Nancy told him. "I hope that's not a problem."

"Not at all," Sam said. "Rachel and Kurt have a tradition of welcoming anyone who doesn't have family in town to Thanksgiving dinner. We'll just have to tell them to plan on one more 'friend' for dinner."

Sam got them on a cab and delivered them to their hotel and helped them get their stuff into the room before excusing himself, telling him he'd be there around 9am to bring them to the Bushwick apartment to surprise everybody.

Kitty was impressed with the room. It was one of the nicer ones, not just a tourist hotel like she'd expected. They really spared no expense. The room was a suite, like Nancy had said. There was a bedroom with two queen sized beds in it, a spacious bathroom, a small kitchenette, and as promised, a main room with a hide-a-bed couch.

She momentarily wondered if the two beds were standard with the room or requested. But she shoved that thought out of her head. It really wasn't any of her business weather Artie's parents still slept together even though they were divorced.

Kitty unpacked her things and then excused herself to freshen herself up before they needed off to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

After taking a shower, redoing her makeup, and changing into clean clothes, Kitty reached into her purse and retrieved the container of birth control pills she had hidden in an inner compartment. When she and Artie had gotten serious, she had gotten her own from the same source as she'd gotten them from for Unique. After a few weeks apart, Kitty had stopped taking them, but resumed when she found about this trip. She didn't know what might happen, but she wanted to be prepared. She hoped four days would be enough time to have enough of the drug to be effective if it came to that. She also had condoms AND some very thin lingerie tucked away in the same purse.

When Nancy hollered that they were ready, Kitty put it out of her head and joined them on their walk to the hotel restaurant.

# # #

At the restaurant, the three of them shared a table and Kitty spent most of the meal answering questions about herself from Artie's mom and dad. Apparently James had wanted to meet Kitty for a long time since Artie had been talking about her quite a bit when they'd been dating.

# # #

Kitty hadn't slept a lot the previous night, but was now so exhausted that she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

That night she dreamed about Artie: eyes, his touch, the filing of his arms around her when she sat in his lap, his lips that felt like pillows, the feeling of his body against hers when they made love, and had the best nights sleep she'd had in ages.

# # #

The following morning Kitty awoke bright and early. She wanted to be ready when Sam got there and she still had to decide what she was going to wear from that three finalists she'd brought with her. She finally settled on a nice blouse and skirt that she thought he would like.

Sam arrived just when he said he would, and the four of them headed off to the subway. 45 minutes and 3 transfers later, they were approaching the building their apartment was located in.

When they began to ride the elevator up to the apparent, Kitty started to get nervous. Nancy, who was watching her whispered in her ear, "relax, it's be fine. Breathe." She hugged her shoulder and smiled.

Kitty smiled back as the door open to reveal Rachel, who clearly hadn't been clued into the fact that she was coming either, but recovered quickly.

"Nice to see everyone," she greeted them. "Welcome. If you'll follow me."

And she lead them into the main part of for apartment where a large group sitting down. She could see his chair faced away from her. Mercedes, Blaine, Kurt, and a number of other people she didn't know were sitting around. She took them to be other NYADA students. Then she noticed the brunette sitting next to Artie.

"Everybody, we have a few more guests." then she asked, "Artie I believe you know these ones..."

"MOM!" He shouted as he turned his chair, and Nancy come over to hug her son. His dad followed suit.

"Everybody," he announced, "these are my parents, Nancy and James Abrams."

Then seeing Kitty, who glanced at him shyly, he added, "and this is my- this is Kitty."

The brunette suddenly seemed very uncomfortable.

Kitty's eyes widened in surprise...

To Be Continued...

#$#$#

Author's Endnotes:

I dont usually do cliffhangers but figured it would be more dramatic.

Oh, and for for record. The rough draft of this was written long before the spoilers of the song being used in season 6 came out. It was always my intention to have Kitty sing this song before she saw him again.

As always, please subscribe, favorite (if you are so inclined) ang review.


	6. AN ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCING: NEW BEGINNINGS and NEW NEW DIRECTIONS

(A rewrite and expansion of A New Beginning)

By WildeAbrams

With the next few weeks I will begin publishing an almost complete rewrite of this story which was first published over a year ago, but was never finished.

First, let me give you some background explanation. Two and a half years ago when I started writing Glee fanfic, I was a very angry Glee fan. To me, the best part of glee, on top of all of the compelling characters, was the glee club itself. But, in the middle of season 5 the writers, in a knee-jerk reaction to the death of Cory Monteith, decided to take Glee in a completely different direction, ending the glee club in Lima storyline and writing anyone not in New York out completely, and in the process made it not feel like Glee anymore.

When RIB created Glee they didn't plan ahead and put everyone in the same grade. As a result, everyone was set to graduate at the end of season 3. They realized this at the beginning of season 3 and Artie, Tina, Blaine, and Sam abruptly got demoted a grade, even though they had always been shown in the same classes as the others, and Blaine had been introduced the year before as an older mentor / love interest for Kurt. They also introduced several new characters at McKinley: Sugar Motta, Rory Flanigan, and Joe Hart. In addition, they also established Harmony and Wade "Unique" Adams as guest stars, clearly positioning them to transfer to McKinley the following fall. Unfortunately none of these really captured the hearts and interest of most fans. They filled out the glee club roster, but it didn't change the fact that the most popular characters were graduating, even though the actors were still under contract for another year.

Legend has it that RIB had plans for a spin-off of Glee (Glee: New York, Glee: The College Years, or something to that effect) where they wanted to explore the lives of the alumni after graduation. But due to costs, slipping ratings, and the fact that those types of shows just weren't that successful most of the time, Fox rejected the idea. So they were left with a bunch of characters that didn't fit into the show format anymore.

So, starting with season 4, Glee was split in half and became two distinct parts of the same show. The most popular characters Rachel, Kurt, and Santana ventured out into the world of New York and pursued their dreams, and plans were made to write the other alumni in where they could.

The underclassmen, meanwhile, stayed in Lima and began another school year. Artie,Tina, Sam, and Blaine became the senior members of the club, joined by Brittany, who it was revealed in the end of season 3 was failing her classes and didn't graduate, so she came back as a second year Senior. As expected, Unique transferred to McKinley, but Harmony did not. But, the character of Rory - my personal favorite of the season 3 newbies - was written out for some reason.

Several new characters were also introduced in Lima: Marley Rose, an insecure wallflower who wanted to sing songs on the radio; Jake Puckerman, Noah Puckerman's younger black half brother; Kitty Wilde, a mean head cheerleader type who was a cross between Quinn and Santana (but there was more to her character than originally seen); and Ryder Lynn, a relatable 'regular Joe' type who was also dyslexic. All of these were recruited into the New Directions within the first few episodes.

Also returning were Sugar and Joe, but neither got any significant storylines and disappeared for entire episodes with no explanation, unless they were needed to fill up the choir room or for a performance.

The other alumni: Mercedes, Mike, and Quinn, were written into either storyline where ever they could make them fit, and the New Yorkers returned to Lima a few times each.

Finn, meanwhile, washed out of the army and continued to feel lost. After briefly checking with Rachel and Kurt in New York, he came back to Lima a few episodes into the season and Artie convinced him to help direct the fall musical. Mr. Schue saw a lot of himself in Finn, and how directing gave him his confidence and sense of purpose back so he recruited him to run glee club while he went to Washington to advocate for arts in education. In the process, Finn discovered that he wanted to be a teacher. He started college locally and was going to work alongside Schue to get college credit for it. Eventually, once Rachel achieved all of her dreams she was supposed to return home in the series finale in a full circle kind-of thing and tie the whole thing up in a nice little bow.

Unfortunately the tragic and untimely death of Cory put a damper on that. Cory had experienced issues with substance abuse off and on for his adult lifetime. During the final weeks of the filming of season four these demons reared their ugly heads again, and Ryan told Cory to check into rehab and get better. As a result Finn was written out of the final two episodes of season four, but his sudden disappearance was never explained. Cory's stint in rehab seemed to have been a success and he was back with the cast for the season five photo shoot in June. Three weeks later just weeks before they were ready to begin shooting season five, Cory was found dead in his hotel room of a heroin overdose. His time in rehab had reduced his tolerance for the drug and the dose he had been using before was now toxic to him.

Obviously everyone who knew and loved Cory and Finn were in shock. A private memorial service for him was held on the Paramount lot. The cast and crew delayed the beginning of shooting of season five for a month while they took time to mourn. A number of things were considered, but ultimately it was decided that the Finn character should be killed off and a new episode would be written about his death. In the meantime the two episode Beatles tribute, which was already written and in pre production was filmed.

Then the new episode, entitled The Quarterback, was written and filmed. Most of the original cast came back for it. Instead of delving into a plot about the circumstances of his passing, they chose to focus on paying tribute to him in song and story. In fact the circumstances of his death were not touched on at all, other than that it was sudden. That episode was moving and powerful and drew tears from anyone who saw it, and the tears shed by the cast on screen were real. Joaquin Seido, the Director of Photography said it was the hardest thing he had ever had to shoot. Virtually every scene was filmed in one take because the cast and crew had a hard time keeping it together. The tears they shed were for Cory not just Finn.

After that episode the cast and crew took a break and the show took its first hiatus early while they began rewriting the rest of the episodes in pre production. The first half of season five had its good and bad moments, but you can really tell what episodes were written after Cory passed away, because it was painfully apparent that the writers had given up.

Apparently, just before the filming of the nationals episode, the season 4 newbies (Melissa, Blake, Alex, Jacob, and Becca) were called into Ryan's office and informed that after episode 13, the show was switching to an all New York format and that even though they were series regulars that season, their services were no longer required. Ouch!

When the news of this broke Ian Brennan was asked in an interview weather we might see any of the newbies in New York and he said that since Kitty and Artie were still together long distance that we might see her once before the end of the season. Reportedly Becca was told something similar, because she said in an interview that she might be back one more time. Of course that didn't happen and each week they mocked us by listing the newbies in the credits each week.

On the show itself, even though the New Directions performed one of the most impressive set lists in the history of the show, they came in second at Nationals, and Sue made due on her threat and cancelled Glee Club. Inexplicably, after only a half hearted attempt to salvage it, with help from April Rhodes and Holly Holiday, Schue gave up and brought back the alumni to say goodbye before moving everyone else to New York or elsewhere.

I was furious, but held out hope until I saw Transitioning where they made Artie into a player and had him apparently forget about Kitty. I was angry not only about how they characterized Artie, but also that they didn't even give us a proper breakup scene or explanation for ending an otherwise healthy relationship. In response I wrote a one shot story called In My Arms Again (Somewhere, Somehow). It got decent reviews and the early leaked info indicated that season 6 would also be all New York, or at least not Lima.

I began writing Glee: A New Beginning to be an alternate season 5b/6 to give my favorite characters a happy ending. I eventually got inspired to do other stories and this one fell by the wayside and was eventually abandoned. In the time since then my writing has improved and what I want this sorry to be has significantly evolved, so rather than continue from where I left off, I am doing a complete rewrite. Most of what was in the old version will still be there, but in a better form and structure. This story, while still centering on Kitty and Artie, is going to be much more of an ensemble piece. It's also being broken into two separate stories:

New Beginnings overlaps season 5 B and tells the story of how Artie and Kitty get back together and get glee club back. In this version Marley, Ryder, Jake, and Unique don't transfer out and I will also be introducing the McCarthy twins from season 6, and possibly one other newbie, and bring back a few other familiar faces.

NEW New Directions overlaps season 6 and brings back the energy and urgency of season 1, along with the weekly lessons. Glee Club is back, but only on a trial basis. If they win or place at Nationals then the club is back permanently. If not, it's gone for good. This season will feature all of the season 4 and remainder of the season 6 newbies, with the exception of Myron. The two sets of newbies will band together to form the new glee club with a common goal. Unlike season 4 on the show only a few of the alumni will appear (Artie, Mercedes, and Mike are planned) but only where the story calls for them. I really want the two sets of newbies to stand on their own. Rachel and the remaining alumni will be mentioned from time to time, but we will assume that they are off in New York and elsewhere pursuing their dreams.

Both stories will be incorporated into The Wildebrams Saga as parts 2 and 3. Watch my website WildeAbrams dot com for more information coming soon.

Please add me as a subscribed author on so that you know when each piece becomes available.

Wilde Abrams

Spring 2016


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